courteous
/ˈkɜːti.əs/
"courteous" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“courteous” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #22,334. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #22,334
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Showing regard or thought for others; especially, displaying good manners or etiquette.
Corpus desk
Index EN-courteous · courteous · English
courteous · rank #22,334 · 12 variants · 3 confusables
- FREQ-MID #22,334
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
- VAR-MID 12 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH correlate
Nearest frequency peer: correlate (-2 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “courteous”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- consort
consort
77,670 corpus weight
- correlate
correlate
77,669 corpus weight
- courteous
courteous
77,667 corpus weight
- Crete
Crete
77,665 corpus weight
- criticise
criticise
77,664 corpus weight
- Cupid
Cupid
77,663 corpus weight
What this shows “courteous” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | courteous |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈkɜːti.əs/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #22,334 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “courteous”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 12 spelling variants around courteous (IPA /ˈkɜːti.əs/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #22,334 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Showing regard or thought for others; especially, displaying good manners or etiquette.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for courteous, with forms such as "ccourteous", "coruteous", and "couretous". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "Courtois", "courthouse", "courageous", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English curteis, from Old French curteis (French courtois), from cort (“court”). The correct English form is courteous, spelled C-O-U-R-T-E-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Showing regard or thought for others; especially, displaying good manners or etiquette.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how courteous appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
a courteous gentleman a courteous gesture
Nectar ran / In courteous fountains to all cups outreach'd; / And plunder'd vines, teeming exhaustless, pleach'd / New growth about each shell and pendent lyre; [...]
Etymology
From Middle English curteis, from Old French curteis (French courtois), from cort (“court”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ccourteous
- coruteous
- couretous
- courrteous
- courteosu
- courteouss
- courteuos
- courtoeus
- courtteous
- coutreous
- cuorteous
- ocurteous
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of courteous - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "courteous", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).